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New G5 Apple iMac

Apple does it again. The new G5 iMac is gorgeous. The all-in-one PC is only 2 inches thick including the monitor and Apple's most powerful CPU. Pure sweetness. It comes in two screen sizes (17 and 20 inches) and should be available in a couple weeks. See

Treo 650 Pictures

The internet is going bonkers over a leak of 8 Treo 650 pictures. The best roundup of pictures and analysis is on TreoNauts. Seems the new Treo has a 320X320 high resolution screen, a new flatter keypad, built-in video recording, and 1 megapixel digital camera. Pretty much inline with the PowerPoint presentation leak some time ago. I don't think this is enough for me to upgrade. I'll probably wait for next year's EVDO version that will make web-surfing more usable and responsive. Read

Detailed Sony PSP Specs

ExtremeTech got a hold of a detailed technical specification PowerPoint presentation for the Sony PSP handheld. Nothing earth shattering other than some nice hardware layout diagrams and wireless not being listed in the I/O section. I'm sure the latter was not intended since wireless gaming has been a vaunted feature in the next generation of handhelds.

Al-Qaeda's Hard drive - Osama Bin Laden Emails

An Atlantic Monthly reporter got a hold of Al-Qaeda's main laptop computer hard-drive and copied it before giving it to the CIA. There are thousands of documents from budgets, training manuals, and emails written by Bin Laden himself. This is intense, fascinating reading. Kind of scary to think, Bin Laden's crew are more proficient using the internet and technology than most of our leaders back in 2001. To: The American People From: Osama bin Laden Folder: Publications Date: October 3, 2001 What takes place in America today was caused by the flagrant interference on the part of successive American governments into others' business. These governments imposed regimes that contradict the faith, values, and lifestyles of the people. This is the truth that the American government is trying to conceal from the American people. Our current battle is against the Jews. Our faith tells us we shall defeat them, God willing. However, Muslims find that the Americans stand as a protective shield and strong supporter, both financially and morally. The desert storm that blew over New York and Washington should, in our view, have blown over Tel Aviv. The American position obliged Muslims to force the Americans out of the arena first to enable them to focus on their Jewish enemy. Why are the Americans fighting a battle on behalf of the Jews? Why do they sacrifice their sons and interests for them? To: Mullah Omar From: Osama bin Laden Folder: Deleted File (Recovered) Date: October 3, 2001 Highly esteemed Leader of the Faithful, Mullah Muhammad Omar, Mujahid, May God preserve him … 1- We treasure your message, which confirms your generous, heroic position in defending Islam and in standing up to the symbols of infidelity of this time. 2- I would like to emphasize the major impact of your statements on the Islamic world. Nothing harms America more than receiving your strong response to its positions and statements. Thus it is very important that the Emirate respond to every threat or demand from America … with demands that America put an end to its support of Israel, and that U.S. forces withdraw from Saudi Arabia. Such responses nullify the effect of the American media on people's morale. Newspapers mentioned that a recent survey showed that seven out of every ten Americans suffer psychological problems following the attacks on New York and Washington. Although you have already made strong declarations, we ask you to increase them to equal the opponent's media campaign in quantity and force. Their threat to invade Afghanistan should be countered by a threat on your part that America will not be able to dream of security until Muslims experience it as reality in Palestine and Afghanistan. 3- Keep in mind that America is currently facing two contradictory problems: a) If it refrains from responding to jihad operations, its prestige will collapse, thus forcing it to withdraw its troops abroad and restrict itself to U.S. internal affairs. This will transform it from a major power to a third-rate power, similar to Russia. b) On the other hand, a campaign against Afghanistan will impose great long-term economic burdens, leading to further economic collapse, which will force America, God willing, to resort to the former Soviet Union's only option: withdrawal from Afghanistan, disintegration, and contraction. Thus our plan in the face of this campaign should focus on the following: —Serving a blow to the American economy, which will lead to: a) Further weakening of the American economy b) Shaking the confidence in the American economy. This will lead investors to refrain from investing in America or participating in American companies, thus accelerating the fall of the American economy … —Conduct a media campaign to fight the enemy's publicity. The campaign should focus on the following important points: a) Attempt to cause a rift between the American people and their government, by demonstrating the following to the Americans: —That the U.S. government will lead them into further losses of money and lives. —That the government is sacrificing the people to serve the interests of the rich, particularly the Jews. —That the government is leading them to the war front to protect Israel and its security. —America should withdraw from the current battle between Muslims and Jews. This plan aims to create pressure from the American people on their government to stop its campaign against Afghanistan, on the grounds that the campaign will cause major losses to the American people. —Imply that the campaign against Afghanistan will be responded to with revenge blows against America. I believe that we can issue, with your permission, a number of speeches that we expect will have the greatest impact, God willing, on the American, Pakistani, Arab, and Muslim people. Finally, I would like to emphasize how much we appreciate the fact that you are our Emir. I would like to express our great appreciation of your historical stands in the service of Islam and in the defense of the Prophet's tradition. We ask God to accept and reward such stands. We ask God to grant the Muslim Afghani nation, under your leadership, victory over the American infidels, just as He singled this nation out with the honor of defeating the Communist infidels. We ask God to lead you to the good of both this life and the afterlife. Peace upon you and God's mercy and blessings. Your brother, Osama Bin Muhammad Bin Laden

Valve Interview on Counterstrike: Source

CVG has an interview with Valve developers on Counterstrike: Source. Interesting tid bits include work on Counterstrike 2, a Day of Defeat conversion, and physical props that affect gameplay. Worth the read. We're still finalizing how physics props will affect gameplay. There are a number of balances that have to be carefully worked out, both in terms of networking and game flow. The plan is to include larger physics objects that aren't just eye candy - objects that you can drag and drop as barricades and obstacles. Read

Nvidia Announces Mid-Level Geforce 6

At Quakecon today, Nvidia announced their mid-level range of Geforce 6 videocards today called the 6600 series. They will run at $149 and $199 price points and have 42 FPS at 1600X1200 in 32-bit color for Doom III. Initial cards will be PCI Express native only, which limits the market for us add-on geeks. The killer feature is these cards is SLI, so later down the line you can add a 2nd card for theoretically double the performance. No word yet if the card requires an extra power connector and a 350W+ power supply like the 6800 series. If they can get a 6600 out soon that runs on my AGP system without overloading my 300W power supply, this may be the card that replaces my aging ATI 9700. The card is expected to start selling in mid-September. Read

PS3 Blue-Ray: Nail in the Coffin for Xbox 2?

It's becoming increasingly obvious that Sony will endow the Playstation 3 with Blue-Ray DVD technology. This will let the console playback high definition DVD movies and have five times the storage space vs. today's DVDs (27gb vs. 4.7gb). If Microsoft doesn't include an HD DVD drive in Xbox 2 late next year (which seems increasingly likely), it could be a nail in the coffin for the console. Game developers like Rockstar are already complaining that 4.7gb isn't enough for their Grand Theft Auto games. Moreover one must remember that the original Playstation 2 shot out of the gate mainly because of its DVD player functionality. It sure wasn't the launch titles. Read - Discuss [Thanks CAG]

Half-life 2 September 1st!

With Doom 3 out this week, gamers are already munching down on next generation graphics and sound. For those looking for more innovative story scripting and gameplay, it looks like Half-life 2 is just a few weeks away as Amazon.com and EBgames.com both have September 1st as a release date for the long awaited Valve game. Can you imagine playing Counterstrike Source in a just a few weeks? I can't wait. Gordon! Gordon! Get your new ATI graphics cards warm and ready for some spider stomping action. Link

Mickey Mouse PC

Starting August 12th at Disney.com and CompUSA, the Magic Kingdom will begin selling a $599 Mickey Mouse shaped blue computer. It will come bundled with Internet filtering and Disney children software. I guess its for kids, however I doubt the market is that huge for kiddie PCs. Kids want to be grown up and buy adult oriented products like Grand Theft Auto. Trust me on this one. Having a blue Mickey Mouse PC isn't "coolest kid on the block" material. Read [Thanks Russell]

Datel PS2 Max Drive Review

FirstAdopter.com forum member, Arogan, has reviewed the Datel PS2 Max Drive PS2 USB key drive. He seems positive on the product and recommends it highly. So for you PS2 gamers confounded with maxed out memory cards, this may be the solution you have been waiting for.

I basically have the space equivalent of 16 ps2 memory cards (about $320 worth - at least double that if you count compression) on hand that I can restore from anytime without the need of a pc even. What can I say, this product is designed perfectly. The interface is great on the ps2, no weird formatting, great compatiblity, good compression.
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